Path specification

Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA)

Current stand

ACTA not signed by Switzerland

The ACTA agreement remained open for signature by the negotiating Parties until 1 May 2013. Switzerland, Cyprus, Estonia, Germany, the Netherlands and Slovakia did not sign the agreement within that deadline. They can thus no longer accede as negotiating Parties.The other Parties to the negotiations (Australia, Canada, the EU and 22 of its Member States, the Republic of Korea, Japan, Mexico, Morocco, New Zealand, Singapore and the United States) signed the agreement within the deadline of the 1st of May 2013. The ACTA agreement does not provide for a deadline for the ratification. The Agreement will enter into force following its ratification by six Parties.

Previous developments

Switzerland Defers Signature of the ACTA Agreement

Switzerland has, for the moment, deferred signature of the ACTA Agreement until enough elements are available to be able to assess how to proceed. This stated the Federal Council in a response to a letter (German pdf 773 KB or French 803 KB) from the National Council’s Foreign Affairs Committee. Press release (pdf 59 KB) dated May 9, 2012.

Signature of Agreement by the EU and 22 EU Member States

On 26 January 2012, the EU and 22 EU Member States signed ACTA. Signature by 5 EU Member States (Cyprus, Estonia, Germany, the Netherlands and Slovakia) has still not been completed. The EU Commission decided on 22 February 2012 to have the Court of Justice of the European Union decide whether the ACTA agreement is in compliance with community law before it is ratified.

Signing of the ACTA Agreement by a first group of countries on 1st October 2011

On invitation by Japan, a ceremony took place on 1st October 2011 in Tokyo, at which a first group of countries (Australia, Canada, Japan, Republic of Korea, Morocco, New Zealand, Singapore and the United States) signed the ACTA Agreement (Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement). The rest of the negotiating parties (the EU and its Member States, Mexico and Switzerland) participated in the ceremony as well, but did not yet sign the Agreement due to on-going internal approval procedures. The negotiating Parties issued a joint press release (pdf 22 KB) on the occasion of the signing ceremony.

Conclusion of negotiations

The legal experts of the ACTA delegations met early December 2010 in Sydney, Australia, to review the text of the negotiated ACTA Agreement from a legal perspective and to do the necessary legal scrubbing. The ACTA text is thus available in its finalized drafting version, pdf 146 KB. Participants will now initiate the relevant domestic proceedings in view of the signature and the ratification of the Agreement.